


The Odd Ones

by hyperInactive



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Keith is a vampire, Klance is eventual i promise, So is Shiro, Supernatural AU - Freeform, also its not like Supernatural the show its just supernatural beings and stuff, and Pidge is an alchemist, i guess??, i think there'll be a good bit of angst, ill add tags as it goes on, some swearing bc i swear a lot, the others youll just have to wait and see, violence later on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2018-09-25 12:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9819941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyperInactive/pseuds/hyperInactive
Summary: After going through probably the biggest change of his life, Keith doesn't really want any more excitement.  Unfortunately, an unexpected reunion with an old friend brings just that.  When he keeps being bombarded with new people, new information, and plans for a rescue mission, how can he learn to navigate his new (technically dead) life?(im so sorry i suck at summaries)





	1. Chapter 1

Keith knew that trekking through the forest during the day was a bad idea. Sure, the trees and leaves provided a decent cover from the harsh sun, but it was still incredibly uncomfortable and his skin was itching like crazy. He should’ve eaten before he left but Shiro had cleaned out their fridge and hadn't had time to refill it yet. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, except today Keith had decided to go find that thing he thought he saw in the woods. He knew it was something, a shape flitting in between the trees. His first thought was that it was another vampire, although he and Shiro were the only ones around here as far as they knew. It seemed too small to be a vampire though, and Keith could’ve sworn it was followed by a slightly bigger shape, although this one wasn't as easy to remember. His ears twitched as he broke a branch underfoot. Damn his sensitive hearing. He could smell every animal as it ran away from him, and he could feel his fangs starting to poke out from his gums. He ran his tongue along the point. He still wasn't used to this. He had only been a vampire for about two months, it wasn't nearly enough time. Concentrating, he managed to get them to retreat back above his canines, and then returned his focus to finding the creature he saw. 

After an hour more of wandering, he heard rustling coming his way and braced himself. It got closer, until he could clearly distinguish a second pair of thudding footsteps behind it. The second creature was definitely bigger. The bush in front of him shook, and Keith was surprised when a slightly large house cat leapt out of the foliage. Keith grabbed it, slipping in the dirt in the process and falling on his ass. The cat squirmed but Keith held it tight, hearing the footsteps of what he could now tell was a human get closer. Or at least, a humanoid. 

“Green? Green where the hell did you go? I told you to stay in the yard you little-” The panting shouts were cut off as a small person broke through the trees around Keith and the cat. They stared down at Keith, before their eyes locked on the wriggling feline. 

“There you are! Stop running away!” They took the cat from Keith, clutching it close and looking Keith up and down. Their glasses were askew, and their hair was messed up from running through the forest, but Keith's breath hitched. He knew them. 

“Pidge?” He said, incredulous. The person’s eyes widened. 

“Holy shit, Keith is that you?” They broke out into a wide grin and shifted the cat to one arm to help him up. “I haven't seen you in, what, three years?”

“Almost.” He replied, grinning too. “What are you doing out here?”

“Well I could ask you the same thing, you know. As for me, Matt and I decided that living in the forest would help our research, so we built a house out here.”

“ _I_ came here to find the thing I saw running through the trees, although I guess I know what it was now.” He gestured to the animal that Pidge was still holding. They laughed. 

“Yeah, Green here just can't seem to stay inside the house. I guess it's good it was you here and not some random person though, since Green is, uh...special.”

Keith took a closer look at the cat and noticed that what had seemed earlier like normal fur was actually torn in some places, where if you looked hard enough you could faintly see bone. The cat's fur was also a strange grey-green, probably where Pidge got its name from.

“Pidge, is your cat dead?”

Pidge mock-gasped. 

“Excuse you? ‘Dead’ is so crass, she’s a fucking _zombie_ cat, thank you very much.”

Keith laughed and held up his hands in surrender.

“Ok, ok! So I take it you're still doing your secret reanimation experiments?”

“Well, it's not just some ‘secret experiments’ anymore. I'm an Alchemist now, and I happen to dabble in necromancy. Second of all, they aren't really secrets, they haven't been for a while.”

“So you finally told Matt that the reason you liked the woods so much was because you were searching for dead animals?”

Pidge scratched the back of their neck. 

“Well...not exactly”

Keith groaned.

“I mean, I told him that I was doing the experiments and he found them really interesting! I just didn't tell him I was trying to raise the dead, I only mentioned the Alchemy stuff.”

Keith laughed. Typical Pidge. They shifted Green in their arms again and scratched her behind her one ear. The other ear was gone, presumably torn off or something. 

“So as much as I really want to catch up with you, I don't want to stand out in the woods any longer. Some animals here are pretty dangerous. Do you wanna come back to my house? It's not as private but it's more comfortable.” They said, gesturing deeper into the woods. Keith shrugged and started to follow them back through the trees. Then something they said registered fully.

“Wait, why would it be less private?”

Pidge rolled their eyes.

“Well, I don't live alone.”

Keith rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, right, sorry I forgot about Matt.”

At this, Pidge winced and stopped walking. 

“Actually, Matt’s not there.”

“What do you mean?”

Pidge sighed. They leaned against a tree and began scratching Green again. When they spoke, their voice was quiet. Keith wasn't sure if he would've been able to hear it had his senses not improved. 

“Matt...he’s missing. He has been for a while.”

Keith thought his heart stopped at the news, until he remembered he was technically dead and his heart didn't beat anymore, but that empty feeling remained as he registered what Pidge said. He, Shiro, Matt, and Pidge used to hang out all the time, Matt was as much a brother to Keith as he was to Pidge. 

“Pidge I’m so sorry.” was all he could say, nothing else would come out.

“Yeah, yeah, it's...it's been a year so I’m not really broken up about it.” They said, turning away, but Keith could tell that tears were in their eyes. 

“If you need anything, you know Shiro and I are always there for you.”

“Yeah.”

They were silent for a moment, before Pidge threw their hand up, trying not to jostle Green too much. 

“It's like...he used to leave all the time, you remember? One day he'd be here the next day there’d be a note on the counter saying he had to go investigate something in the woods and he’d be camping. It never lasted that long, I think the longest was a month! Sure, we’ve always worried, but he always came back! He’d stumble in at some odd hour of the night and crash on the couch, waking up in the morning chattering excitedly about what he found. But not this time. I waited for a month, knowing he’d be back soon, but as time passed I just had to find him. Hell, I’d gladly find him in the woods and get his stern ‘lecture’ on disrupting his work just to have him there.” They squeezed a bit tighter around the cat that was now snuggling further into their arms, “Keith...I’ve been searching for him for months now, and there's nothing. His note this time didn't say where he was going so I didn't know where to start. I haven't lost hope but I don't know how much more I can do.” Their voice broke. 

Keith put his hand on their shoulder. Neither of them were great with physical contact, but it was easier when you’d known the person for years. Keith knew how Pidge felt. He’d been in their shoes, when Shiro disappeared too, about...about a year ago.

“Pidge I think I know what happened to Matt.” He blurted out, staring wide eyed at the woods around him. As Pidge turned to watch him in shock, he ran his tongue where he knew his fangs were hiding. Those damn vampires. 

“What do you mean?” Pidge asked, hesitant. Then they shook their head. “Let's just go back to my house, we can talk there.”

They walked through the trees, Keith following absentmindedly. He was still thinking about Shiro and how this could all be connected. Pidge somehow knew exactly where they were going, even though all the trees looked the same, and soon they came upon a small house, obviously handbuilt. 

“Here’s home! It's only like, three rooms but that's all I need.” Pidge said, shrugging and walking towards the door. 

“So, who do you live with?” Keith asked. 

“Oh, yeah, I met this guy, Hunk, by the ocean one day, and he really needed a place to stay so I let him sleep in Matt's room for now. He's really nice and really good at cooking so I don't need to survive on microwave dinners anymore. Then his friend Lance asked if he could crash here every once in awhile so I figured why not. it's only a couple days a week, so it's not that big a deal.”

“So you just let two complete strangers live in your house?” Keith was flabbergasted. Call him paranoid, but Pidge was crazy. 

“Well yeah. Hunk is really trustworthy, and he's kept the house clean so who am I to complain. He also helps me with my projects, he’s really smart. Lance is a bit more of an...acquired taste, but he's nice too. They’ve been really good friends to me.”

Keith frowned. He didn't trust these guys already, and he hadn't even met them. Pidge punched his arm. 

“Give them a chance will you? I’ll go in first and give them a heads up.” 

Pidge then walked up to the door and unceremoniously kicked it open, shouting, “LANCE! HUNK! Y’ALL BETTER BE DECENT I’M NOT ALONE!”

They paused, and then, “LANCE THAT MEANS YOU!” 

Keith's head dropped into his hands. Pidge’s head poked out the door and motioned for Keith. He stuck his hands in his pockets and walked inside, immediately seeing just how Pidge this house was. There were metal gears and robot parts all over the tables and floor, and shelves of something in bottles on all the walls. Pidge’s experiments had always needed a lot of space, and it showed here. There was a large aquarium on the wall, filled with colorful fish, which was the only thing that Keith hadn’t expected to see there. Pidge had never been a fish person, but Keith shrugged it off, it had been three years. Keith watched as Green jumped onto one of the shelves and curled up, knocking off a half-finished device in the process. Pidge was about to scold the cat, when their face turned to the nearest doorway and they waved happily. Keith turned to see why, and walking into the main room was a guy around Keith's age, smiling brightly. He had a yellow bandana holding his hair out of his face, and was wearing clothes stained with what looked like engine oil.

“Hey! I’m Hunk, nice to meet you!” He stuck out his hand and Keith shook it. Based off first impressions, he was finding it hard to distrust Hunk, unfortunately. He was large, but not in an intimidating sense, and Keith, with all his paranoid imagination, couldn't imagine this guy hurting anyone. He still was wary, but it was hard.

“Keith.” He returned.

“Where’s Lance?” Pidge asked, and Hunk gestured to the other room. 

“He was just grabbing - Oh! Speak of the devil!” He was cut off as another boy entered the room. He was slightly taller than Keith, a fact that the latter noted with irritation as the boy came closer, and was wearing a light blue hoodie and sweatpants. What caught Keiths eye, however, and caused him to completely ignore the hand held out to him, was the small blue...fins on his ears. They were the same bright color as his eyes, Keith noted, and then he wondered why the fuck he thought that was important. Pidge followed his stare and grinned widely. 

“Hey Lance, looks like you’ve got another one!” They said, causing Lance to grin too. Keith turned.

“Huh?”

Pidge walked up to Lance and stood on their tiptoes to flick the fin-thing. Lance winced, obviously fake due to the over-dramatized cry of pain, and put a hand on Pidge’s head, preventing them from reaching up anymore. They scowled, and Lance turned his grin to Keith.

“Ear cuffs man, they're surprisingly realistic!”

“Lance likes to wear those to freak people out.” Pidge explained, still stuck from moving by Lance’s hand. The boy in question shrugged.

“It's just funny! You should've seen Pidge’s reaction, they were about ready to shove me in a cage and do experiments on me.”

“Yeah that sounds like Pidge.” Keith said, grinning a little in spite of his apprehension. Something was off with those two, especially Lance, he just didn't know what.

“Oh I’ll shove you in a cage, Keith!”

Now Keith was laughing. He missed this, hanging out with Pidge like he used to. Then he caught sight of a picture of Pidge and Matt on a shelf and the laughter died in his throat. Pidge stopped too, seeing where he was looking and clearing their throat.

“Hey, guys? Could you give us some privacy please? We need to talk.” 

Hunk nodded and grabbed Lance’s arm without waiting to hear any possible protest. He could hear grumbling as the two left the room, but Pidge suddenly pulled him down to sit.

“What do you know about Matt?” They asked, staring at Keith urgently.

“Nothing definitive, but I guess I should start off with the fact that Shiro went missing too. Around the same time you said Matt did.”

Pidge looked down, muttering something to themselves. Then they looked up. “That could be connected. Matt and Shiro were always close.”

“Yeah, and Matt used to drag Shiro around to places. But it wasn't as normal for Shiro to leave, and he hadn’t been in contact with Matt for a while as far as I know, so I started searching after just a couple days. He left a note saying he had to go somewhere, and using the general location he said he’d be going to, I managed to narrow his location down. It took months, almost a year. But two months ago I found him. He had been kidnapped by this horrible group of...people.” Keith hoped Pidge didn't notice his pause, but he didn't really want to tell them they were vampires yet. As far as Pidge knew, Keith was still human, and he’d like it to stay that way for now.

“How did you save him?” Pidge asked, leaning forward. 

“Well, when I got there, I found that he had already escaped where he was being held and was currently just trying to get out of the compound they were in. We managed to escape without fighting too much, but it wasn't a very clean rescue.” Keith’s face darkened at the memory of what happened. He was half carrying Shiro through the halls, since he was missing an arm and incredibly weak, when they were ambushed by one of the vampire guards. Keith had tried to fight him off, but the knife he had brought as a weapon wasn't incredibly useful without the element of surprise. Shiro had jumped in between Keith and the vampire, to save him, and had gotten infected in the process. See, a bite doesn't turn one into a vampire, you have to mix the humans blood with that of a vampire. Shiro had many open wounds from his time as a prisoner, and Keith had managed to cut the guard pretty badly, so when Shiro tackled the guard he was covered in the vampire’s blood. There was nothing Keith could do besides decapitate the vampire before he got Shiro off of him. 

“So...you think Matt could be there?” Pidge’s eyes were hopeful.

“Maybe, but I feel like if he was there, Shiro would have wanted to get him before we got out. I can ask him if Matt was there when I get home.” Keith watched as Pidge’s face fell and he put his hand on their shoulder. 

“We’ll find him. You’ve been searching on your own for a year, but now you’ve got me and Shiro. We aren't giving up on him.”

“Hunk and Lance will help too. They’ve been doing what they can for a while now, but with all five of us...I think we can do this.” Pidge smiled, albeit a little shaky. Keith smiled back. 

“So, how is Shiro?” They asked, and Keith grimaced.

“Hes...okay. He has a job and everything, but it's a little hard for him since he lost an arm while he was a prisoner.” 

“Oh my god!” Pidge gasped, “That's awful.” Then they looked around, thinking, before turning back to Keith with wide eyes.

“I think I might be able to build him a new arm, if he can come here so I can get measurements and stuff. Hunk’ll help me build it and I can code it to his nerves and shit too so he can move it.”

“You can really do that?”

“Keith,” They scoffed, “how long have you known me? Of course I can do that, I’m a genius.”

“Modest, too.”

They rolled their eyes and grinned. “If you think I’m modest, you should hear Lance talk about himself.”

A loud ‘I HEARD THAT’ came from the other room, and Pidge snorted. 

“COUNTING ON IT!” They called back. 

Keith couldn't help but be happy for them, they seemed to trust Lance and Hunk and they were happy, so that was good enough for now. Pidge looked out the window and frowned.

“Its getting dark out, if you want to make it home while there's still light you should go now. If you want you can stay here though.” Their face was slightly hopeful, but as much as he wanted to he couldn't stay. For one, he needed to get back to Shiro, and he also didn't quite trust himself around humans for extended periods of time yet. What if he did something? He’d never be able to live with himself if he hurt Pidge. 

“I can’t, but I can try to bring Shiro tomorrow, he has a day off.”

“Ok! I’ll wait by the edge of the woods, it’s kinda hard to get here alone if you don't know the way. Speaking of which, do you need help getting out of the woods?” They asked, getting out of their chair. On one hand it would be less suspicious if he said he needed help, on the other hand he could smell his way out just fine. 

“No, I should be fine.” He said, and Pidge nodded. 

“Well, I’ll see you tomorrow Keith. I’ve missed you.”

They smiled up at Keith and pulled him into a hug.

“I’ve missed you too Pidge. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Then Keith left the house and began walking back through the forest. When he set out that morning to find the thing he saw, Pidge was the last thing he expected to find. It was a nice surprise though. 

He used his weird vampire senses to smell his way back towards Shiro. Maybe it was the fact that they were related, or the fact that they were both vampires, but Shiro’s scent was stronger than anyone's. Well, Pidge was pretty strong too, he could still pinpoint where they were even from far away in the woods, but Shiro was like a beacon. When he got back to their house, he pushed open the door and called out to Shiro. 

“I’m back, you'll never guess what happened.”

“What?” Shiro asked, walking out of the kitchen. 

“I saw Pidge.”

Shiro’s eyes widened.

“Really? How are they?”

Keith couldn’t help a grin.

“They’re good, they’re living out in the woods now. I don’t like their housemates, but they do so I guess they’re okay.” He said, and Shiro raised his eyebrows.

“Why don’t you like them?”

“You know how humans smell really distinctly _human_?” He said, to which Shiro nodded, “These guys didn’t. I don’t know what it was about them, but there’s something going on there.”

Shiro frowned, but didn't say anything more. Keith sighed. He had to ask about Matt.

“Also, I have a question for you.” He started. Shiro looked at him expectantly. “When you went missing...were you with Matt?”

 

_____________________________________________________________________

 

“I’m telling you Pidge, something is off about him!” 

“You’re just saying that because you don't know him. You never trust people immediately!” Pidge responded, rolling their eyes in Lance’s direction. 

“This is different. _He_ is different, I just know it.” Lance insisted, but Pidge was having none of it.

“Listen Lance, Keith is my friend. Stop accusing him of being ‘off’.” They snapped, and Lance crossed his arms with a pout. Deep down, Pidge slightly believed him. Keith had been a little different, and his skin was so cold even though he had always had warm hands when they were younger. But Pidge had to remember that it had been three years, some things were bound to change. They couldn't hop onto Lance’s suspicion train just because of cold hands.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy SHIT i have been gone for too long, i am so sorry.

The next morning, Keith and Shiro walked to the edge of the woods. The past night had been full of conversation, Shiro admitting to Keith that Matt had been with him when he was captured, and Keith telling Shiro what Pidge had said. Shiro didn't even need to be told that Keith and Pidge were looking for Matt, he was on board immediately. 

As the two approached the woods, Pidge wandered out, Green in their arms again. Shiro raised an eyebrow at the cat and Pidge grinned. 

“Hey Shiro! It's good to see you again!” They said. Shiro smiled. 

“It's great to see you too Pidge, it’s been way too long. What's with the cat?”

Pidge smiled proudly at the cat, propping it up a little higher. 

“I brought this guy back from the dead! She was my first success.”

“You're serious?” Shiro asked, laughing slightly. He walked forward and pet Green hesitantly. Pidge nodded. 

“We should get going if I want to have enough time to start your arm today.” They said. 

“My arm?” 

Keith sighed, he knew he had forgotten to mention something last night. 

“Yeah, did Keith not mention it? I’m gonna build you an arm.”

Shiro’s mouth dropped open. He looked between his missing arm and Pidge, his look of shock morphing into affection and pride. 

“Thank you, Pidge.” He said, causing a light flush to appear of Pidge’s cheeks.

“Aw, it's nothing, don't worry about it.”

They refused to let Shiro say anything else, grabbing his hand and starting to pull him into the woods. Keith followed behind, making sure to try and memorize the route that Pidge was taking. At some point Keith had ended up holding Green, he wasn't quite sure how that happened, and Pidge had ended up riding on Shiro’s shoulders, dictating the directions to him while leaning on his head. Keith shook his head with a grin, they had always used their small stature to their advantage. 

They made it to Pidge’s house fairly quickly, and they scrambled off of Shiro to enter first. Once again they went in the door yelling. Keith sighed, it must be interesting to live with Pidge Holt. Lance and Hunk were seated at the table when Keith and Shiro entered, and Keith noticed that Lance still had those ear cuffs on. They...were really nice he had to give him that. The blue complemented Lance’s skin tone really nicely, and why was Keith noticing things like this again? He didn't trust Lance, remember? He drew his eyes away from Lance to watch Pidge introduce Shiro. His arm, or lack thereof, got some looks, but since they already knew Pidge was building one it wasn't really a shock. 

“Just sit down, Shiro, and I can get some measurements.” Pidge said, turning to grab something off a shelf. Lance stood up and made his way to the door.

“Since I’m not gonna be much help here, I’m gonna go for a swim, ok?” He said, not waiting for Pidge’s nod before grabbing a bag by the door and practically skipping out into the woods. Hunk sighed. 

“I’m gonna go with him, you know how he is.”

Then it was just Keith, Shiro, and Pidge in the house. Pidge looked up at Shiro as they measured the arm that was still there. 

“So…” They started, hesitant, “did Keith ask you about Matt?”

Shiro sighed. 

“Yeah. He did. It's true, Matt and I got captured together.” He said, and Pidge’s movements grew slightly stiffer as he continued. “He called me up one day, saying that he thought he had found something out deep in the woods and he didn't want to go alone. How could I say no to that? So, I left Keith a note and went to find him. You can figure out the rest.”

“Do you think you can remember where it was that you two got captured?” Keith asked. 

“Absolutely. I wouldn't be surprised if our camp is still set up, considering how far into the woods we were.”

Pidge paused their measuring. 

“What on earth was he looking for out there that he wouldn't tell me?” They wondered. Shiro moved his hand to rest on their shoulder. 

“I honestly don't think he knew. He had all his equipment, but there was no research or anything. This wasn't his normal excursions.” He said, and Pidge relaxed slightly. They stood up and wrote down some measurements in their notebook. Shiro leaned back. 

“So, what's the deal with your housemates?” He asked, locking eyes with Keith. Pidge shrugged as they moved around the small house, grabbing things off of shelves. 

“I told Keith yesterday. I was exploring the beach about a few months ago and I met Hunk there. We started talking and he mentioned that he had nowhere to stay, so being the generous soul I am, I asked him if he wanted to live with me. He has been a blessing on this household I shit you not.” They chuckled lightly. “Also, I can’t really call Lance a housemate, since he doesn't actually live here. He stays a few days at a time, sometimes a few weeks, but he does have a home. He’s Hunks best friend, which is how I met him.”

Pidge stretched to reach a small bottle on a high shelf, balancing on their toes and almost falling over. Keith and Shiro both stifled laughter. 

“So, next question,” Shiro started, and Pidge raised an eyebrow, “why did you and Matt decide to live in the woods? You both have terrible pollen allergies, what went through your heads?”

Pidge laughed. They hopped off the table and moved to a workbench. 

“It was all Matt, really. He wanted to be closer to the plants he liked, even though they made him sneeze, and so he dragged me out here. It grows on you, though. Allergies and all.”

Shiro grinned and shook his head. 

“Yeah. That sounds like something Matt would do.” He said. The three of them sat in silence for a minute as Pidge started sketching plans onto a sheet of paper. Shiro turned to Keith and they had a silent conversation. Really, though, it was just Shiro telling Keith that he agreed with him. Keith nodded back. He didn't know what was up with Lance and Hunk, but until he did, and until he knew that it wasn't a danger to Pidge, he was going to be on guard. 

“So Pidge,” Keith started, “besides raising a cat from the dead, what other experiments do you do here?” 

Pidge turned with a shit-eating grin. 

“I think you mean _three_ cats.” They said, and Keith’s head fell into his hands. 

“Hey, don’t give me that look Keith. It’s not my fault cats are the easiest animal to use with necromancy. Green was the first, followed by Yellow, who I gave to Hunk. She’s in his room. Blue is at Lance’s house.”

“First question,” Shiro said, turning to face Pidge, “how are you getting all these cats? And second, why are they all named after colors?”

Pidge laughed.

“Well I named Green after her fur, and then I just wanted to keep the pattern going. To answer your first question, when cats run away where do you think they go? The woods. And there are some dangerous creatures in the woods at night. They don’t come near the house, but if you’re wandering the woods after dark it can get hairy. The cats that run in here...don’t last very long. I’ve tried other animals, like squirrels and birds, but cats are the only ones that have actually come back.”

Keith shrugged. He had never understood Pidge’s experiments in the first place, so that sort of made sense. 

“To actually answer your question, though,” They continued, “I’ve been making potions. So far the ones I’ve perfected are night vision, healing, one that causes you to float about an inch off the ground, I’m still working on improving that one, and…” They paused for a split second, and if Keith hadn’t had enhanced vision he wouldn't have seen their eyes flick briefly to the aquarium by the wall. “And that’s it.” 

“That's so cool Pidge, I’m proud of you.” Shiro said, and Pidge smiled. 

“Thanks Shiro.” They said. Then they turned back to their worktable. “So, uh, I don't think we should take any drastic steps in our search until your arm is done. I would also like to get some more potion recipes down pat.”

Keith nodded.

“That sounds smart. Shiro and I can pick up some supplies too.” He said, glancing at Shiro. What they really needed was to restock the fridge. When Shiro came back, he got a job volunteering at the blood drives, and he just...took some extra bags when nobody was looking. It's how they survived this long without biting a human. But Keith hadn't eaten in a few days now, and it was getting a little harder to keep his fangs retracted. 

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, with most of the conversation revolving around the past three years and what everyone was doing. Keith sometimes tried to direct the conversation towards Hunk and Lance, but either Pidge didn't know anything, or they had gotten even better at lying. They used to brush their hair out of their eyes when they lied, but they weren't doing that anymore. 

Currently, Pidge was regaling Keith and Shiro with Holt Sibling Antics™ that happened after they lost touch. 

“Pidge, what do you mean you two are banned from McDonalds?” Shiro was sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose. Pidge just laughed. 

“We had to, Shiro! It was for the Vine! It's not _my_ fault Matt is too gangly for his own good and knocked over the entire condiments counter. The first time, at least. The second time I just let it happen, it was funny.”

Keith reached over and high-fived Pidge, to the exasperation of Shiro.

* * *

Lance splashed out of the water and landed on his back, sending a wave towards Hunk. 

“Dude!” Hunk laughed, wiping the water out of his eyes. Lance grinned and floated over.

“So what do you want to do now?” He asked. 

“Do you want to just go back to the house? Dry off? I can make dinner.” Hunk suggested, and Lance’s face soured.

“But….they’ll still be there.”

Hunk sighed.

“Just because you think something is off about them doesn't mean they’re bad people, Lance. They’ve been friends with Pidge longer than we have, and I really don't think they mean harm to any of us. Can’t you give them the benefit of the doubt?”

Lance flopped onto Hunk’s back, groaning. 

“I mean, I know they aren't malicious. I just...don't trust them. I trust you though, and so I’ll try and be more friendly.” Lance conceded. Hunk smiled and patted his best friend’s back. Lance pulled himself farther onto Hunk’s back and gave him puppy-dog eyes. 

“Can we stay here for today though?” He asked, batting his eyelashes. Hunk tried to frown at Lance, but failed miserably. He smiled as he shook the water from his hair and threw Lance off his back. Lance retaliated by splashing back, and soon they were in an all out water war. 

By the time Lance was ready to leave the beach, the sun was starting to set. 

“Lance seriously, hurry up. We need to go now.” Hunk tapped his foot impatiently as Lance took his sweet time drying off and getting ready to go. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m ready.” Lance replied, grabbing his bag and towel and following Hunk back into the woods. 

“So when do you think you’ll go home next?” Hunk asked as they walked. Lance shrugged. 

“Probably soon. I should go tell my mom that I'm gonna help Pidge, that way she's not nervous when I don't come home for a while. Maria is due to have her baby soon too, so I want to be there for that.” 

“Why don't you go back tomorrow? Pidge will be working on that arm for a while, so you’ll have at least a week and a half before they're ready to start looking.”

Lance contemplated that, before nodding. 

“That sounds like a good plan. You’ll call me if anything happens?”

“Of course, dude. Nothing's gonna happen in a week though.” 

“Yeah I know.” Lance grinned. He was excited to go home, as much as he loved living with Hunk and Pidge, he missed his family. 

A howl echoed through the woods, and the two picked up the pace, coming upon the house right as the sun fully disappeared. They entered to find Pidge scrambling around the room, gathering metal and screws and bolts. A pot of bubbling purple liquid was on the fire. They dropped the metal onto a table and grabbed a small vial, dropping a portion into the pot. 

“What are you doing?” Lance asked, causing Pidge to jump and tilt the vial a little too far. 

“Jesus _FUCK_!!” They shouted as they managed to get their hand out of the way before a cloud of black smoke billowed into their face. They coughed and cleared the smoke away, wiping their glasses and staring disappointedly at the now congealed purple lump in the pot. Then they turned that look on Lance. 

“Well I was _trying_ to start figuring out a potion to animate Shiro’s arm so it's easier for him to move, but someone just ruined my progress.” They glared at Lance, who shrugged sheepishly. 

“Sorry Pidge.”

They sighed and emptied the pot into the trash. 

“Eh, it’s fine. This mixture probably wasn't going to work anyway.” Their face shifted in concentration. “But if I add Numerian root, maybe a dash of Yusiv powder…”

Suddenly they were a blur as they scrambled on a table to grab bottles off the shelves. 

“Hey, Pidge.” Lance said, dropping his bag back by the door. They didn't even acknowledge him, grabbing a random notebook and scribbling down whatever they had grabbed. 

“Pidge!” He said, slightly louder. Their head jerked up, staring at Lance expectantly. 

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to let you know I’m gonna go home tomorrow. Just for a week or so.”

They paused, and set the bottles down on the table. Walking over to Lance, they punched him lightly on the arm.

“It’s not like you have to ask my permission to go home, Lance. Just be back soon so you can help us look for Matt, okay? And say hi to Jess, I miss her.”

“You’re a bad influence on her, you know she tests her pranks on me.” Lance laughed, and Pidge sighed wistfully.

“I’m so proud of her.”

As they moved back to their ingredients, Lance sat down in one of the chairs. 

“So, how’s that arm going?” Hunk asked, picking up what seemed to be Pidge’s plans. They sighed.

“It's...going. I have all the measurements and I think I have all the metal I need already, but the hard part is gonna be making it a working arm. Do you think you can help with that?”

Hunk pondered for a moment, fiddling with the necklace around his neck.

“As long as you can get that potion somewhat working then yeah, I should be able to help a bit.”

“You’re a blessing, Hunk.” 

“Trust me, I know.” Hunk said with a wry grin. 

Lance stretched and leaned back in his chair. He had never met Pidge’s brother, but had been regaled with enough stories about him that he felt he had. Of course he wanted to stay, he wanted to help Pidge find him as soon as possible. But he hadn't been home in a few weeks already, and who knows when he’d get a chance once they started searching. And if going home had the added perk of avoiding Keith and Shiro, well….all the more reason. 

Letting the nerds continue with their technobabble, Lance stood up and walked to the room he shared with Hunk. There was another large aquarium on the wall in this room (it had taken a lot of bribery to get Pidge to install all of them, but it was worth it for Lance), and Lance walked up to it, grinning. He probably would have gotten distracted staring at the fish for hours, but a purring behind him made him whip around. He darted over to the bed, crouching down and staring at the large cat on the bed. Sure, she was technically dead and that was _very_ obvious, but she was a cat and Lance loved her. He did love Blue more, but don't tell Yellow that. He pet her gently, admiring her soft fur. She actually looked like less of a zombie than Green did, since Pidge had gotten a lot better when they raised Yellow. 

“Hey girl, how are you?” He murmured, taking the cat’s face in his hands. She meowed in response, and Lance grinned. 

“I think I’m gonna bring Blue back with me this time, let her get a change of scenery. I’m sure you’ll be happy to see her, won’t you?”

He cooed to Yellow for a little longer until he heard chuckling in the doorway. He turned to see Hunk, and he clutched Yellow closer to him. 

“ _Hunk_. I am bonding with my daughter, don’t laugh at me.” He scolded, but Hunk just rolled his eyes and walked over, taking the cat from Lance.

“She’s my daughter, Lance, yours is at your house. Don’t try and steal my child from me.”

Lance gasped.

“I would never. Anyway, my daughter is better.”

“Believe what you need to help you sleep at night.” Hunk sighed with a smile. 

“Same to you, buddy.”

With that, Lance quickly got ready for bed, knowing he would need a lot of energy for the journey home. Not that it was particularly far away, but it was a tiring journey nonetheless. 

Curling up to sleep, dreams of his family flitted through his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so...i explained this on my other fic (the Paladin Prince) but ill do it here too in case you guys havent read that one. basically, i have had approximately 73.2 new ideas since I updated this fic last, one of which is now at 72 pages and not done yet. This isnt saying im abandoning this fic, hell no, but combine my other stories (both fanfic and the novel im writing) with schoolwork...im just saying that updates for this fic might be scarce. im still sticking with it though, i love it.  
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: @rorzeebubbles  
> Or, follow my writing blog for fic updates: @rorzee-ebubbles


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Keith and Shiro were fully fed for the first time in a week and a half, and were waiting by the woods for Pidge.  Sure, they could find the way without them, but they didn’t want Pidge to come find them and them to not be there.  They waited for half an hour before Keith started to feel anxious.  He had always been easily anxious, but it’s been different since he became a vampire.  It was...amplified.  His skin started to itch, and every sound seemed even louder.  A branch snapped and Keith whipped towards it.  

 

Where was Pidge?  Sure, there was probably a very reasonable explanation for why they weren’t here, but after all that happened to Shiro and Matt, Keith’s mind jumped to the worst conclusion.  He soon grew too impatient for tapping his foot, and Shiro got annoyed by his pacing.  

 

“Let’s just go to the house.” He said, stopping Keith with a hand on his shoulder.  “It’s been long enough that they’re probably not coming, so we won’t miss them.”

 

Keith sighed, took another look around, and began to follow Shiro into the trees.  All the natural calm that he had whenever he was fed was completely counteracted by his anxiety, and he almost attacked a squirrel that ran into his path.  But soon they came onto the house, and Keith relaxed slightly when nothing seemed out of place.  Knowing Pidge, they probably had homemade security systems set up that would be obvious and probably explosive when tripped. The two of them walked up to the door, and Keith knocked.  There was no answer, and so he knocked slightly louder, hearing something fall over inside the house.  Then the door swung open, revealing a  _ very  _ disheveled Pidge.  Their glasses looked like they were hastily shoved on their face, and their hair was flying in every direction. 

 

“You’re a mess.” Keith said.  They snorted.

 

“Eloquent as always, Kogane.” They mumbled, adjusting their glasses and moving to the side.  

 

“Seriously Pidge, are you okay?” Shiro asked. “You look like you just woke up.”

 

“They did.” A voice called from farther into the house.  Keith's head snapped up, still a little jumpy, and he saw Hunk sitting next to the fire, stirring something in a pot.  Pidge crossed their arms with a grumble.

 

“You can blame him for me not meeting you today.  He didn’t wake me up like I told him to.”

 

Hunk rolled his eyes.

 

“You were working for over a day straight and were about to collapse.  I let you sleep, sue me.”

 

Pidge dragged their hands down their face.

 

“ _ Jeez _ Hunk, every time Lance leaves you turn all your ‘mom’ on me.  I can take care of myself.”

 

“No you can’t.” The other three said at the same time.  Pidge stared at them.

 

“I came out here to have a good time, and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.” They said.  Keith shook his head, grinning.

 

“You can’t meme your way out of this one.” He said.

 

“Watch me.”

 

The resulting staring contest lasted until something Pidge said registered with Keith.  Suddenly he noticed how quiet the house seemed, when the other two days it had been full of sound.  Sound from one person in particular.

 

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘when Lance leaves’?” He asked, and Pidge blinked, confused.  Keith grinned victoriously, and Pidge scowled when they realized they had lost the contest.  They didn’t need to know that Keith didn’t blink anymore.  They sighed.

 

“Lance went to go see his family before we left to find Matt.”

 

Keith nodded.  He was glad Lance was going to be out of his hair for a few days at least.  He prefered the quiet.  Shiro, however, frowned slightly.

 

“Is he walking?  You said the woods get pretty dangerous, will he be okay?” He asked, and Hunk waved away his concerns.  

 

“He’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

 

Shiro nodded.

 

“So, how’s the arm going?” He asked, and Pidge pursed their lips.  

 

“It’s...going.  I almost have a hand.” They pointed to the table where five metal fingers lay.  There was the makings of a palm too, and a blowtorch discarded on the floor by the chair.  “Turns out I don't have enough metal for the whole thing, but I can scrap some of the roof and some unnecessary appliances to get the rest.”

 

“It looks good so far.” Keith commented, and Pidge smiled a little.  

 

“Thanks.”

 

They then excused themself to get clean clothes on, and Keith and Shiro chatted with Hunk.  He was currently working on a potion Pidge had been experimenting with, just keeping it stirred and trying some things, and they watched as it shifted colors impossibly fast.  Black to red, to blue and then the brightest yellow, to an electric green and a soft pink, then a quick flash of orange and then back to black.  How on Earth Pidge had come up with this, Keith didn’t know.  

 

When Pidge came back out from their room, they immediately sat down at the worktable, pulled on gloves of some kind, and picked the blowtorch off of the floor.  They picked up the pieces of the palm on the table, and Keith cleared his throat.

 

“Aren’t you supposed to wear goggles or something when you use a blowtorch?” He asked, eyeing the blowtorch apprehensively.  

 

“It’s not a blowtorch, it’s a welder.  And I’m wearing gloves.” They said, shrugging.  Keith sighed.  Pidge then got to work on the arm, and Keith turned back to Shiro and Hunk.

 

“So since Pidge is gonna be busy, what should we do?” He asked.  

 

“We could try and figure out where we’re going to look for Matt first.” Hunk suggested.  

 

“I think we should try and find our old campsite.” Shiro said.  Keith frowned.

 

“How are we going to find it?”

 

“I remember the general direction of it, and if I remember correctly we walked basically in a straight line.”

 

“Ok, but once we find it what are we gonna do?”

 

“Look for clues as to which direction we were taken.”  Shiro stated.  He paused, then looked at the still shifting potion in front of Hunk.  “What is that meant to do?”

 

Hunk glanced down at the bubbling pot and then back up at Shiro.

 

“Pidge is trying to make something that will help us make your arm a working, moving arm.  So far everything except this one has exploded so we’re holding out for this recipe.”

 

As he said that, the mixture popped and sparked, and Hunk scrambled back in his chair. He watched it carefully, and when nothing else happened, he sighed in relief and moved forward again. 

 

“Like I said, everything's been pretty volatile.”

 

When the mixture seemed stable again, Hunk got up and pulled down a map from one of the shelves.  

 

“So, once we start looking we can just mark where we’ve been on a map so that we don't waste time.  Also, do you remember where you were taken?  Or, Keith, where you saved him from?”

 

Keith frowned.

 

“I mean, that whole night is a bit of a blur.  I might be able to remember something though.” He said.  Stumbling home carrying someone mid-vampire transformation kinda makes you forget details.  Then there was his  _ own _ transformation, which just made the night even foggier.  

 

“For all we know, they could have moved base after I escaped.” Shiro said.  Keith rested his chin on his hand, thinking.  If they did move their base, how could they find the new one?  Keith really only found the first one with a lot of wandering and a shit ton of luck.  

 

They had to find it, though.  

 

Over the next few days, Keith watched an arm form out of metal on Pidge’s workbench.  It looked surprisingly realistic, and he could see Shiro getting impatient to try it out.  Pidge had finally managed to get a potion together that  _ didn’t _ explode and would help ‘link Shiro to the arm’ or whatever.  

 

Keith, Shiro, and Hunk eventually ran out of things to plan, and so Keith was incredibly bored by the time a week passed and the arm was finished.  Shiro was currently sitting in a chair with the arm next to him on the table.  

 

“Hunk, is everything good?” Pidge asked, and Hunk nodded.

 

“Yeah, everything should be ready to go.  I did the adjustments you asked for last night, and they should amplify the potions effects.” He replied.  Keith didn’t know what that meant, but he figured it was something technical.  

 

“Great!”  Pidge said, picking up the potion bottle and uncorking it.  They slowly poured it over the metal, and it evaporated on contact, despite the metal having long cooled.  Once the whole bottle was gone, the arm was glowing an ethereal light purple.  They motioned to Shiro, who hesitantly picked up the shining prosthetic.  Pidge helped him set it onto the stump of his right arm, and Shiro gave a breathy laugh as it seemed to mold itself to fit perfectly.  The glow didn’t fade, but Pidge stepped back.  

 

“I don’t know how long it will take to fully connect with you, but it’ll probably be a while.  There wasn’t really an express version of the recipe I made, sorry.” They said.  Shiro stood up and gave them a tight hug, which was now only temporarily one-armed.  

 

“Thank you so much.” He said, and Pidge flushed.

 

“You’re welcome, Shiro.  You’ve always been like another brother to me, I’m just...glad I could help.”

 

Shiro smiled.

 

“Well, now that my arm is done, we can focus on Matt.”

 

Pidge grinned widely.

 

“I’ll let Lance know, and we can start tomorrow.  Pidge, you should sleep.” Hunk said.  Pidge groaned.

 

“I’m fine, Hunk!”

 

“I will carry you if you don't go sleep right now.”

 

“Ugh, okay, whatever.” Pidge punched Hunk on the arm as they passed, and continued on to their room.  

 

Keith stayed in the house for a few more minutes, but eventually he got bored and just needed to  _ move _ .  

 

“I’m gonna go for a walk, okay?  I’ll be back before night.” He said, moving to the door.  

 

“Ok, but be careful.”  Shiro responded, still looking at his arm.  

 

Keith closed the door behind him and looked around.  Now would be a time where he probably would have taken a deep breath to breathe in the smell of the woods, but he didn’t really do the whole breathing thing either anymore.  He did it in order to talk, but he didn’t need to and he had to consciously think about doing it, which was weird.  Keith set off into the trees at a brisk pace, relaxing at all the noises surrounding him.  He needed to relax a little. Tomorrow they were setting out to find a nest of vampires holding Pidge’s brother captive.  

 

Keith knew they would have to tell the others.  If Pidge went into this without knowing what they were up against, it would be disastrous.  But Keith wasn’t quite ready.  He didn’t care how Hunk treated him, even though Hunk was nice, and he honestly couldn’t care less how Lance felt about him, but Pidge?  If Pidge treated him differently, Keith didn’t know what he would do.  

 

Speaking of Lance, it had been so nice without him in the house.  It was quieter, which was a relief to Keith’s oversensitive ears, and it gave Keith time to talk to Hunk.  If Lance had been there, Keith would have been too irritated to talk to anyone.  Maybe not even because of Lance himself, but because of the mystery around him.  Keith still hadn’t been able to figure out what was up with him and Hunk, but based off their smells their secrets were different.  Keith just didn’t know what they were, and it pissed him off.  

 

Keith didn’t know where he was going, he just turned when he felt like it and enjoyed being in the shade of the trees with nobody around.  Which is why it surprised him slightly when he ended up emerging at a small beach.  He didn't know this was here. It was gorgeous, the mid afternoon sun reflecting off of the water like it was glowing, and the sand a soft yellow, almost white.  He suddenly really wanted to swim.  He hadn’t swam in a while, since before he was turned, and he did miss it.  But he dreaded having to go out into the sun to do it.  The sun wouldn’t kill him, not unless he stayed out for a really,  _ really _ long time, but it would still hurt.  It’s like having a constant sunburn, with something rubbing against it, and it got worse the longer he was in the sun.  But the water was a perfect crystal blue, and it seemed to call him.

 

He didn’t have a swimsuit with him, but he didn’t care about the shorts he was wearing anyway.  As he stepped onto the sand he started to take off his shirt, hissing as the sun hit his bare skin, but persevering to the ocean waves anyway.  The water was cool, at least, and it soothed some of the harsh sun.  When Keith got out past standing level, he started treading water and then realized that he didn’t have to worry about breathing underwater.  He grinned and let himself sink, shivering slightly as the cold surrounded him.  He stared around him in awe. Everything was blue.  The sand was tinted blue, the light from the surface was blue.  Something tickled his foot and he looked down, startled.  Multitudes of fish were below him, fish of every color, shape, and size.  

 

This was so much better than swimming as a human.  

 

Suddenly, something flashed in the corner of his eye.  A blue, an even brighter blue than the water around him.  He stared into the depths, seeing farther than he should be able to.  Another perk of being not human. 

 

There.  He saw it again, going into a cave deep underwater.  It...was definitely a fish, but bigger and brighter than all the ones around Keith.  He let himself drop a little further, seeing if he could make it to the cave.  He may not need to breathe, but he didn’t know if water pressure still affected him.  He managed to make it down a few more feet, but he started to feel the effects of pressure and didn’t want to risk going deeper.  His eyes were trained on the cave, watching for any movement from inside, but there was nothing.  Frowning, he started to push himself back up to the surface.  He would have to ask Pidge about the creature, maybe they would know something.  He hoped they did, he was curious.

 

Keith swam for a little longer, periodically peeking down to see if the creature had come out of the cave, but it never did.  Or maybe he just missed it.  

 

He sighed, maybe he had just imagined it.  

 

He got out of the water, grabbing his shirt off a rock and putting it on.  It got all wet, but it made the sun less harsh so he didn't care.  He wanted to stay out, to wander the woods more, but that creature wouldn’t let him.  There was a real possibility that it didn’t actually exist, but he just had to know.  He had been gone a good few hours, so Pidge was probably done sleeping.  He sighed in relief as he entered the shade of the trees again, and focused to find the house.  It wasn’t that hard, with both Shiro and Pidge in the same location.  

 

As soon as he entered the house, he was crushed in a hug by Shiro.  It took him a minute to realize that this was somehow a tighter hug that normal, but when Shiro released him he saw the metal arm move back down to Shiro’s side.  

 

“It works?” He asked in awe, and Shiro smiled widely.

 

“It doesn’t even feel like metal!  It feels...natural.” He said.  

 

“We’re lucky it’s not silver.” Keith muttered under his breath, and Shiro laughed.  Silver didn’t kill a vampire either, but it was on the same level as the sun.  

 

“Where’s Pidge?” He asked, and Shiro motioned to their room.  

 

“I doubt they’re still asleep but they haven’t left their room.  While you were gone Hunk said he called Lance and that he should be back tomorrow, so we’re all set except for packing supplies.” 

 

Pidge was, indeed, awake when Keith went into their room.  They were writing something down in a notebook, with Green nosing her way into their lap.  They looked up when Keith knocked.

 

“Hey Keith, what’s up?”

 

“So I went for a walk in the woods, and I found this really nice beach.”  Keith started.  Pidge set down their notebook and looked a little confused.  “I figured I’d swim for a little bit, but while I was in the water I saw something strange.”

 

At this, Pidge narrowed their eyes.  

 

“What kind of strange?  I’ve been to that beach a lot to study the plants with Matt and I’ve never noticed anything weird.”

 

Keith thought back to the bright, glowing blue he had seen.

 

“It looked like a fish, but it was bigger than any fish I’ve seen, and it was  _ really  _ blue.  It almost glowed.  I saw it go into a cave underwater but then it didn’t come out again.”

 

Pidge looked deep in thought for a moment, biting their lip.  

 

“I don’t know.” They said slowly, brushing their hair behind their ear.  “I’ve never seen anything that looks like that.”

 

Keith sighed.

 

“I doubted you had, but I was just curious.”

 

“I would be too, if I had seen it.  If we weren’t leaving tomorrow I would head down and look for it myself, but there’s no time.” Pidge said, looking slightly dejected.

 

“It was probably nothing.” Keith said.  He walked over and picked up the notebook that Pidge had been writing in.

 

“What’s this?” He asked, and Pidge shrugged.

 

“It’s the notebook I use for completed recipes.  I was just copying down the one for Shiro’s arm in case I need it again.”

 

Keith opened it to a random page and saw a simple title of ‘float’.  He figured this was the one Pidge had mentioned that made you float a few inches off the ground.  Flipping through it he saw there wasn’t much in it.  He saw the night vision recipe, one for enhanced hearing, and then one that was just titled ‘walking’.

 

“What’s this one?”

 

Pidge leaned over and looked at the page, laughing a little.

 

“That one’s a speed boost.  It’s in the book, but it still doesn’t really work.  I don’t even think I have any bottles left.”

 

It was then that Hunk called from the main room that he had made dinner, and Keith set the book back down on Pidge’s bed.  He hadn’t quite believed Pidge when they said that they would have starved if not for Hunk, but tasting his food completely changed that.   _ Shit _ could he cook.  There was something about the food that just made Keith feel at home.  

 

“Hunk, this is really good!” Shiro said, and Pidge emphatically waved their arms in agreement.  

 

“Yes!  Hunk is a genius when it comes to food.  I could have only instant ramen noodles and he would somehow make something that's not ramen noodles.” They said.  Hunk waved them off.

 

“Eh, it’s nothing.  I’ve been cooking basically my whole life it’s no big deal.”

 

The three of them kept praising Hunk’s meal until it was entirely gone, and Keith noticed Pidge periodically handing pieces of their food under the table, where Keith was sure Green was waiting.  He doubted the cat had to eat, being dead and all, but from the quiet meowing he could tell Green liked it.  When all the food was cleaned up, Keith looked out the window.  The woods were dark, and Keith could make out the faint light from the moon through the leaves.  

 

“Uhh, is it safe to go home now?” He said, and Pidge cursed.

 

“I mean, you could risk it,” They said, “but I really wouldn’t recommend it.  I haven’t run into any of the more dangerous animals myself, I’ve been lucky, but I’ve come across what they leave behind and I’ve heard them late at night.  It’s not pretty.”

 

“Isn’t Lance on his way here right now?” Shiro asked, and Keith sighed internally.  He had forgotten Lance was coming back.  

 

“Yeah, but he knows not to come in the woods after dark.”

 

“Well, we need to get things from our house before we leave.  If we don’t go tonight it’ll delay leaving tomorrow morning.” Keith said.  Pidge frowned.

 

“If you leave early you should be fine.  You might even beat Lance back here depending on if he takes his time or not.”

 

Keith sighed.  Even with his natural night vision and vampire strength, he didn’t really want to find out what was in the woods at night, and he could see Shiro felt the same way.  

 

“That sounds like the best option.” Shiro said.  

 

“I don’t really have a place for you to sleep, but the floor isn’t that bad.” Pidge said apologetically.  Keith and Shiro simultaneously said that it was fine.  They both neglected to mention that they don’t sleep anymore.  Less than half an hour later there were two piles of blankets on the floor of the main room  and Pidge and Hunk were going to sleep.  Keith and Shiro lay awake on their makeshift beds.

 

“So really all we need to bring from home is everything in the fridge right?” Keith asked.

 

“Yeah, basically.  You should bring your knife too.”

 

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Keith scoffed. Shiro laughed.

 

“Just making sure!”

 

They talked for a little while longer, keeping their voices down so that it wasn’t obvious they were awake, but soon they lapsed into a comfortable silence.  The rest of the night passed with no interruption, and soon light began to stream through the windows.  Shiro and Keith both ‘woke up’ and then looked at each other.

  
It was time to find Matt Holt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispers* hi hello ive been gone for a while on this story but were getting to some good shit now! 
> 
> ...happy merMay ;)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for some reason the spacing in this chapter fucked up?? i apologize for that and please just try and ignore it

It didn’t take long at all for Keith and Shiro to go back home and get things packed.  Keith packed a bag full of clothes for both him and Shiro, and Shiro packed his bag full of the blood bags from the fridge.  

“And you said my insulated backpack wouldn’t come in handy.” Keith said.  Shiro rolled his eyes.

 

“Because you bought it to go searching for mothman with Pidge, not for a practical use like right now.”

 

“That is practical!  We almost found him too!”

 

“....sure.”

 

When they left their house again at around 7:30, their backpacks were full.  They didn’t know what Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were going to do about food, but knowing Pidge they had some sort of machine for this exact purpose.  Probably some sort of mini, portable refrigerator.

 

Pidge was outside when they got back to the house, checking something in the yard.  They looked up as Keith and Shiro approached, waving.

 

“Hey!  We’re almost ready to go, Hunk and Lance are just grabbing some extra supplies and I’m arming the alarms.” 

 

“There actually are alarms, then?” Keith asked, and Pidge nodded.

 

“Yep.  Some make really loud noises, but one of them sets off a small fireworks display spelling out ‘FUCK OFF’ if you open the front door.  Hunk helped me with that one.”

“I...kind of want to set that one off just to see it.” Keith said, and Pidge.  

 

“Oh trust me, we’ve purposefully set it off a lot.  Sometimes when I go into town I hear teenagers talking about it.  I think it’s become an urban legend to a few of them.”

 

Keith grinned.  “You’re a cryptid now.”

 

Shiro sighed and walked into the house.  Keith followed laughing, leaving Pidge to their work.  Inside, Hunk and Lance were grabbing some of the bottles off Pidge’s shelves.  Hunk had added a vest to his usual yellow shirt, and Lance had a towel around his neck.  Why was his hair wet?  They turned as the door opened and Hunk grinned.

“You’re back!  We were gonna leave in a few minutes anyway to come get you, Pidge just wanted us to grab some of their potions.  Especially the healing ones, who knows what we might run into.” He said, grabbing a vial with a clear liquid inside it and setting it carefully in the bag.  Keith frowned.  

 

“Are you guys bringing any weapons?  We might run into whatever’s out there at night.” He asked, and Lance scoffed.

 

“‘Course we are, we aren’t amateurs.  Some of the shit Pidge and their brother made are crazy cool.  Like this!” He spins around and pulls a small gun out.  “It’s a ray gun!  Technically it’s still a prototype and could be dangerous, but desperate times, am I right?”

 

Keith had to admit that was pretty cool.  He turned to Hunk, who just held up his hands.

 

“I don’t like fighting if I don’t have to, so I don’t have any weapons.  If it comes to a point where I need to fight though, I have a staff I can use.  What about you guys?”

 

In answer, Keith pulled out his knife and Shiro just shrugged and held up his new arm.  Lance put his ray gun away and turned back to the potions, but as he turned away Keith noticed something...different.  Not his hair, which was still wet and as such went down past his ears, but his eyes.  Were they….glowing?  Just slightly?  Keith couldn’t tell.  

 

A knock sounded on the door then, and Keith opened it only to have Pidge dart inside.  They began looking through piles of things littering the ground, tossing parts left and right.

 

Pidge eventually straightened, holding a small, half-built piece of robot in their hand.  They tossed it into a bag with metal parts in it, then turned to Lance and Hunk.

 

“Do you think the cats will be fine while we’re gone?” They asked, and Lance shrugged.

 

“I don’t see why not, they don’t need to eat.  And now that Blue’s here there’s three of them, so they’ll have plenty of company.” He said.  

 

“True.” Pidge said, hopping up onto the table and reaching up to pet Green, who was lying on one of the highest shelves.  “Bye girl, see you soon.”

 

After making sure everything else was in place, and waiting for Lance and Hunk to say one last hurried goodbye to their own cats in Hunk’s room, everybody followed Pidge outside.  Closing the door behind them, they swung their bag over their shoulder and looked at Shiro.

 

“So, where are we starting?”

Shiro looked out into the woods, pointing to the east of the house.

“From what I can remember, I think our campsite was this way.  I don’t know how far away it is though.”

 

“Well I’m sure it’s not that far away.” Pidge said.  “If Matt had time to contact you and then set out again without me even knowing about this project then it has to be somewhat close.”

 

They set off in the direction Shiro had pointed, and soon they were deep in the woods.  Shiro led the way, using a compass Pidge had brought to make sure we were still going the right direction, and he was followed by Hunk.  Pidge was perched on his shoulders.  Unfortunately, that meant Keith was walking with Lance.  He was actually being quiet for once, but just being around the guy drove Keith mad.  For fuck’s sake why was his hair still wet?  

 

Keith shook his head and focused on the environment around him.  The thick canopy of leaves kept the sun off him, and the shade made everything a nice dark green.  It was actually pretty relaxing, just the noises from tiny bugs and rustling leaves until-

“The Krusty Krab Pizza, is the pizza, for you and me!” Lance sang loudly, making literally everyone else in the party jump a foot in the air.  

 

“Lance what the fuck?” Keith asked, and Lance shrugged in reply.  Pidge leaned over and ruffled Lance’s hair.

 

“You get used to Lance being annoying.  If you can believe it, it actually gets endearing.”

Keith scoffed.  Lance rolled his eyes, which Keith had noticed were no longer glowing, if they ever were.  Thankfully, though, Lance didn't start randomly singing again.  Keith didn't know how long they had been walking, time gets a little fucked up when you don’t get tired, but soon Hunk put Pidge on the ground to walk for themself.  They started skipping, and asking Shiro if he knew any of the surroundings.  Shiro was peering through the trees, but if the  _ rescue _ night was fuzzy for Keith then he doubted Shiro remembered anything from the abduction.  

 

The light from the sun began to fade, and Keith’s hand started to inch towards his knife.  He remembered some of the noises he had heard in the woods the past night.  How many were vampires?  How many worked for the group that kidnapped Shiro?  What  _ else _ was in these woods?  He didn’t want to find out, but he knew he would.  As the forest got darker, he saw Lance pull out his small ray gun and Pidge take out a knife that was a little smaller than Keith’s.  

 

A howl echoed in the distance, and everybody stiffened.  The howl was loud for Keith, but he couldn’t tell if that was because the animal was close or if it was just because Keith’s hearing was stronger.  

 

“Guys, I think we should stop here for the night?  What about you guys, do you agree, I agree.” Hunk said, twirling the staff he had mentioned nervously.  

 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Shiro said.  “How will we stop anything from attacking us?”

 

“Oh, I’ve got that.” Hunk assured him, pulling some things out of his bag.  “I guess...now is a good time as any to tell you guys I’m a witch?”

Pidge and Lance were completely unfazed, but both Keith and Shiro’s jaws dropped.  They watched as Hunk revealed the items from his bag to be four decently sized crystals, and he started to walk around the area, imbedding the crystals into the ground in a rough, large square.  

 

“These crystals should deter any non-magical creature from coming near us, and if anything magical enters the square, it’ll act like an alarm.”

 

He looked up then, and saw the looks on Shiro and Keith’s faces.  He smiled sheepishly.

 

“Sorry, that was probably a little abrupt, right?  Should I have waited?”

 

Shiro shook his head, and Keith closed his mouth, both breaking out of their stupor.  

 

“No, no, it’s fine.” Shiro said.  “It was just a bit of a shock.”

 

“Yeah,” Keith added, crossing his arms, “It’s, uh, actually pretty cool.”

 

He looked at Hunk with a brand new eye now, knowing exactly what it was that he had been sensing/smelling off him for the past week.  A few other things fell into place, such as why Pidge needed Hunk’s help with their potions and the ‘adjustments’ on Shiro’s arm, but rather than make him feel better, this just made him feel a little worse for keeping his own condition secret from Pidge.  Hunk had obviously told them about his thing, and knowing that, it was likely they knew what was up with Lance too.  Keith had known them for years before they lost contact, they used to be so close.  

 

He had to tell them soon, before they ran into something bad.  

 

When everyone else had lay down on blankets and fallen asleep, Keith sat up and just watched the trees.  Sometimes he wished he could sleep, he missed it a bit, but the night was his favorite time.  It was nice to not be tired during it.   He wanted to go for a walk, it seemed peaceful outside the crystal barrier, but he couldn’t re-enter without alerting everybody to the fact that he was magical.  

“You okay?” He heard Shiro whisper.  Keith ran his hand through his hair and sighed.

 

“Yeah, I’m good.  I’m just thinking.”

 

“Nervous?”

 

“I guess, yeah.”

 

Shiro laughed softly.

“Me too.  I honestly don’t know how far away our campsite was, I don’t know what direction we were taken.  What if Matt isn’t even there anymore?”

 

“Then we’ll find where he is.  We aren’t gonna give up, Shiro.  You and I have forever to find Matt, and I’ll use it.”

 

“Thanks, Keith.” He said, smiling.  

 

There was a pause, before Keith asked a question he had been meaning to ask for a while.

 

“Why did you and Matt stop talking?  I know Pidge and I lost contact because you and Matt did, but what happened?”

 

Shiro sighed, leaning against a tree and staring sadly into the darkness of the trees.

 

“We were stupid, that’s what happened.  It wasn’t like we had a big fight, or we suddenly got really mad at each other, it was just one small argument that made Matt more determined than ever to do his research.  It was my fault, really.” He shook his head.  “I wanted him to stop going so deep into the woods, I wanted him to just stay closer to the treeline, where it was safer.  He had already had a bad encounter with a few wolves, barely running fast enough to get out unharmed, and I just...didn't want anything to happen to him.”

He stopped for a second, and Keith didn’t say anything.  He knew that wasn’t it.  

 

“He knew that, too.  He knew I loved his research and that the only reason I wanted him to stop going so far was because it was dangerous.  He just couldn’t stop, and he got offended that I would want him to.  He thought I meant that he couldn’t make it, that I didn’t believe in him to go out that far into the woods.  So he said that he would show me he could.  You know...Matt and I never fully lost contact.  We just never hung out, and so you and Pidge never saw each other.  But he’d still call me, tell me about his research, and tell me that he wasn’t done yet.  He still had to go farther.  I get it, the plants in the woods were obviously magical and he loved them, I loved that he loved them, but….I-” His voice broke for a second.  “I thought he loved me more.”

 

Keith didn’t know what to say.  He didn’t know what he had expected but...it wasn’t that.

 

“Shiro…” He started, getting up and moving to sit next to him.  “Of course he did, this is Matt we’re talking about.  You two were inseparable, there’s no way that one small fight could change that.”

 

“I mean, I know that, but what if we never find him?  It was just one petty fight and we ended up only speaking over the phone for two years.  I don’t want that to be how all this ends for us.”

 

“It won’t.  We  _ will _ find him, Shiro, and he’s gonna be fine.”

 

Shiro put his arm around Keith and they sat there until the sun came up.  

 

Hunk woke up as soon as the sun started to shine through the trees, and he smiled at Keith and Shiro.

 

“Good morning!  When did you guys wake up?”

 

Keith stretched and stood up and Shiro shrugged.

 

“Not too long ago.”  

 

It wasn’t long after that that Lance woke up, but Hunk had to shake Pidge awake, much to their chagrin.  They sat grumpily on their log as Hunk fished out some protein bars he had packed and passed them out.  Keith quietly slipped his into his pocket as the others finished eating, and tapped his foot impatiently as the campsite was packed up.  

Soon enough they were on the move again, this time with Pidge on Keith’s shoulders behind Shiro because ‘their feet hurt’, and Hunk trailing behind with Lance.  They were talking about something, and Keith tried to eavesdrop, but with the rustling undergrowth and the fact that they were talking way too softly, he only got bits and pieces.

“How long…...out?” Hunk asked.  

 

“A day.”

“You didn’t……...last night?  …….dry...Lance, you need to…...back tonight.”

 

“Hunk it’s fine, I……….a few days…….not gonna kill me.”

 

Keith grit his teeth and stopped trying to listen, the parts he couldn’t hear were pissing him off.  He just kept walking, shifting Pidge to be more comfortable and focusing on the trees ahead.  They walked for a while, pausing a few times to rest but ultimately just pushing through it, until Keith heard something to the right of their current direction.  It was fairly loud, and it seemed like the rest of the group heard it too since they all seemed to look in that direction.  

 

“I’m not the only one that heard that, right?” Hunk asked, his hand gripping the crystal around his neck (which now made a lot more sense to Keith).

 

“No….you definitely aren’t.  Should we check it out?” Keith replied, already starting to move in the direction of the noise.  Pidge was leaning forward on his shoulders, trying to peer through the trees as Keith walked.  

 

“Let’s just be careful.” Shiro said, following Keith.  

 

It didn’t take all that long to reach the source of the noise, and they came upon a small clearing in the woods.  There was a house, a bit of a shittier house than Pidge’s somehow, and a  woman outside chopping wood.  Keith dropped Pidge off his shoulders and they all crouched below the bushes on the edge of the clearing.  The woman had...something off about her, something about her skin wasn’t normal, but Keith couldn’t tell.  

 

A man came around the corner of the house, carrying a tarp, and he started to load the chopped wood onto it.  His skin seemed almost reptilian?

 

“I think that’s good for a few days, Nyma.” he said, and she sighed and embedded the ax into the tree stump.  She turned around, brushing her hair off her shoulders as she did, and Lance whistled quietly.  

 

Somehow, even though Lance barely whistled loud enough for  _ Keith _ to hear him, Nyma’s ears twitched, and she turned to stare at the treeline.  

 

“Rolo, I think someone’s out there.” She said softly, and Keith could tell that Pidge had no clue what she said.  Hunk and Lance made no indication otherwise, but Pidge tried to lean closer into the bush to hear.  Keith pulled them back.  The man, Rolo, began to move slowly to the bushes, and Keith saw him pull out a small gun.

Keith’s fangs instinctively slid out of his gums, and his vision sharpened even more, to the point where he could see that Nyma’s skin almost seemed to be made of wood.  She had leaves in her hair too.  Rolo continued to move towards the group, two hands on the gun.

 

“Who’s there?” He called.  “I’m armed!  Show yourself!”

 

Looks were exchanged all throughout the group.  Rolo just kept advancing, and they knew that he would see them soon.  Lance pursed his lips, and his eyes hardened for just a second.  Then he flashed a smile at the others and raised his hands above his head, slowly standing up.  As Keith realized what he was doing, he sighed, but didn’t stop him.  After all, out of the five of them Lance was probably the least likely to say something that got him shot.  

 

At least, that’s what Keith assumed.

 

As it happened, Lance opened his mouth, but before he could even say ‘hello’, Rolo was whirling towards him in alarm.  His finger was already on the trigger, and barely a second passed between Lance standing up and Rolo firing the gun.  Time seemed to slow down for Keith, and thoughts flew in his brain at light speed.  

_ Holy shit that just happened _

 

_ Lance is going to be shot _

 

_ Lance can die _

 

_ I can’t die _

 

_ Fuck it _

Keith only half knew what he was doing as he launched himself in Lance’s direction.  Sure, Lance had some secrets and Keith didn’t fully trust him, but that bullet couldn’t kill Keith.  As he shoved Lance out of the way, the bullet hit him in the stomach and he fell to the ground.  Holy  _ fuck _ that hurt.  Pidge and Hunk rushed to his side, and he saw Shiro watching him worriedly from a little ways back.  Lance was sitting on the ground, a little disoriented.  Keith barely registered Nyma yelling for Rolo and the two running away.  The scent of blood was thick in the air.

 

He could feel the bullet still inside him, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to heal right with it still there.  He waved Pidge and Hunk off, looking at his fingernails, which had lengthened into claws when his fangs came out.  He braced himself, purposefully ignoring the shocked and worried looks he was getting, and then went about getting the bullet out.  

 

He was expecting it to hurt, sure, but he didn’t expect it to be worse than when the bullet went  _ in _ .  He grit his teeth the whole time, and his eyes were shut tight, but eventually he pulled out the remains of the bloodied bullet.  When he first turned he wondered why he still bled, but his eventual answer was that out of any blood he drank, part of it went to his veins so that his blood didn’t coagulate and fuck up his movement.  This led to him being in a perpetual state of having ‘just died’ where he can still bleed.

 

Of course, he was only thinking about this to distract himself from the looks he was getting.  Pidge was confused and worried, Hunk was a bit scared, and Lance….

 

Lance looked pissed.

 

“Keith...uh...what the fuck?” Pidge finally got out, looking from the bullet in Keith’s hand, to his fangs that were now in plain sight, and back.  Keith looked at the ground.  He knew this would come up at some point, but he had hoped it would be on his terms. 

 

“Well, um-”

 

“-He’s a  _ vampire _ .” Lance said darkly, with what seemed like hatred clouding every word.  “Isn’t that right?”

 

Keith looked back at him.  He was staring straight at Keith, backed up against a tree and teeth slightly bared.  His eyes seemed to be glowing again.  But now, rather than the light blue that they had been, the clear watery color had turned stormy.  They were so angry, so mad, so...afraid?

 

“Yes.” came the reply, but not from Keith.  Everyone turned to look at Shiro.  

 

“Again, what the fuck?” Pidge said, gesturing wildly at Shiro and Keith.  “When did this happen?”

 

“When I rescued Shiro.” Keith said.  “The, uh, people that took him weren’t exactly...people.”

 

He told the whole story.  From finally stumbling upon the base with Shiro in it, with pure luck on his side, and finding him in a cell missing an arm.  The encounter with the vampire guard and Shiro getting infected.  Struggling to get home, Shiro mid-turning.  Shiro  _ fully _ turning and...needing to eat.  What was Keith supposed to do but volunteer?  He didn’t know that the blood from Shiro’s split lip would turn him.  Even if he did, he still probably would have done it.  

 

When he was done, there was silence.  Until Pidge spoke.

 

“So….rather than being up against some weird ass, dangerous gang, we’re up against a weird ass, dangerous gang of vampires?  And you and Shiro are  _ also _ vampires?”

 

“Um, yeah, pretty much.”

 

“Well shit.”

 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys.” Keith said.  “I didn’t really know how.”

 

His eyes flicked to Lance, who was still scowling.  His arm was in a weird position, he looked to be almost clutching his left collarbone.  As their eyes met, his grip on his shoulder tightened and he stood up.

 

“I can’t fuckin’ take this shit.” He said, shaking his head, before he turned around and stalked off into the woods.  As he got farther away, Keith heard his steps quicken into a full out sprint. 

 

The silence he left behind was suffocating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i had to add that shatt lmao
> 
> also I am Hyped for what we r getting into here


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Im back!! for now, at least. There was a lot of Family Shit happening on top of my schoolwork but i managed to finish this chapter. Sorry for being gone so long, i hope you guys like this :)

Hunk sighed and put his head in his hands.

 

“I should probably-”

 

“-I’ll talk to him.” Keith said, shocking himself.  Since when would he volunteer to talk to Lance?  Especially a pissed off Lance?  But he felt that he did something wrong, and that meant he had to be the one to find Lance.  Hunk made a face.

“I...don’t think he wants to talk to you.” He said.  Keith shook his head and stood up, wincing at the pain from the bullet wound.  Hunk sighed at the determined look on Keith’s face, and leaned back against a tree.  Pidge rummaged around in their bag, pulling out a small vial filled with blue liquid and handing it to Keith.     
  


“Give this to him, he’ll need it.  And, Keith,” They looked up at him, “Lance is a good guy, he’ll come around.  Don’t judge him too harshly right now.”

 

Keith frowned slightly, not quite sure about that, as he turned and started making his way through the trees.  He heard Hunk whisper behind him.

 

“Will he come around though?  I mean, we all know Lance and he can be pretty stubborn.  Especially about vampires...”

 

He grit his teeth and began running through the trees, faster than any human could, missing Pidge’s reply.  The leaves whipped at his face, but he kept running, the woods merely a green blur to his sides.  The woods seemed quiet, almost solemly so.  He heard soft footsteps ahead of him and slowed down to a fast walk.  The footsteps were clearly Lance’s, but he wasn’t running anymore.  Then the footsteps became muffled, and Keith sped up slightly to find out what happened.  His feet hit sand, and he found himself on a small beach much like the one by Pidge’s house.  Sure enough, Lance was there, now jogging across the sand.  He hadn’t noticed Keith.  There was a large rock on one end of the sand, and that was where Lance stopped, taking off his shirt, shoes, and pants before climbing it.  Keith was about to call out to him, not sure what he would say, when he stopped.  Why did Lance come here?  How did he even know this place was here?  

 

Not to mention, Keith just didn’t know what he was going to do.  Was he going to apologise?  For what, being a vampire?  It wasn’t like it was his choice!  Why the fuck was Lance so mad at him?  

 

Now  _ Keith  _ was mad.  Lance had no reason to be angry at him for this.  Hell, Keith saved his damn life!  He had just started to storm across the beach, ignoring the sun beating down on his skin and ready for an argument, when Lance did a perfect swan dive off the rock and into the water.  

 

Almost immediately, everything about Lance changed.  

 

Keith could see through the clear blue water, and he watched as Lance’s legs disappeared.  They were replaced with a long twisting tail, deep blue and with fins along the sides.  The color almost seemed to shift between shades of blue as the sun hit it.  

Suddenly, Keith realized that he’d seen Lance like this before.  He was the creature he had seen underwater the other day.  The blue of the tail was unmistakable.  It was...captivating.  

 

Keith didn’t notice he was staring until Lance broke the surface and saw him standing there.  His relaxed, calm face scowled.  His eyes, brighter blue than ever and  _ actually _ glowing this time, narrowed.  His pupils were slitted, like a cat’s.

 

“What are you doing here?” He asked, crossing his arms.  He had small blue fins on both his upper arms and his forearms, as well as behind his ears.  Or, rather, his ears had become a sort of fin.  He had shimmering blue scales scattered across his face and arms too.  Small slits that Keith assumed were gills fluttered in the air on both sides of his neck. 

 

Lance snapped his fingers impatiently and Keith blinked, just realizing that Lance was talking to him.  

 

“I asked what you were doing here?  What, you never seen Merfolk before?”

 

“Uh, no.” Keith said, shaking his head.  “And I, um, followed you here.”

 

“That’s obvious enough.  Why?  I don’t want to talk to you.”

 

“That's why I followed you.  Why do you hate me all of a sudden?  What have I done to you?”

 

Lance scoffed.  He gestured to Keith’s whole body, emphasizing around the mouth, where Keith’s fangs were still on display.  

 

“That.”

 

Keith sighed.

 

“What, you hate me  _ just  _ because I’m a vampire?”

 

“I don’t hate you.  I get you didn’t want to be a vampire.  I just don’t trust you.”

 

“Why?  I just saved your life!”

 

Lance groaned.  

 

“Do you know what happens to Merfolk when they get infected by a vampire?  Probably not.”

Keith shook his head.  Lance’s expression turned dark.

 

“They go feral.  You were human beforehand, you can control yourself and you still have the capacity to care about other people.  Merfolk?  Not so much.  Our DNA doesn’t mix well with vampirism.  When Merfolk turn, they don’t remember who or what they used to care about, and they just don't care.  They want to feed, and that's it.  It doesn’t matter if what they're feeding on is a random fish that passed by, a shark, a whale, or another Mer.”  He met Keith’s eyes and stared him down.  “It could be a friend, a sibling, or even a parent, and the turned Mer won’t even notice.  So you ask why I don’t trust you?  That’s why.  You might not even mean to turn me but if we get in a fight it could happen.  You also neglected to tell us that we were up against possible hordes of vampires, any of which could turn me.  And if I get turned, I don’t know what I’d do.”  

 

Keith was...pretty speechless.  He had no idea that other species might react differently to vampirism, he had never really thought about it.  Then again, he hadn’t known for sure that Lance wasn’t human.  

 

“Well maybe if you had told Shiro and I that you weren’t human, we would have told you guys sooner.”

 

“Maybe if you had told us sooner, I would have had time to trust you.”

 

With that, Lance turned and dove back into the water, his tail splashing Keith in the face.  Keith watched as Lance swam deeper and deeper, until he couldn’t see the brilliant blue anymore.  He was a little shocked to find that when it was gone, he missed it.  Lance...was so different, now that Keith knew he was Merfolk, and Keith found that he didn't want Lance to distrust him.  Suddenly, contrary to how he had felt about Lance the whole past week, he actually wanted to talk to Lance.  To learn more about him, to learn how he could help Lance trust him.  It was weird, but as Keith watched Lance disappear into the depths of the water, he wanted Lance to like him.  

 

Why?  He didn’t know, and he didn’t quite like it.  

 

He waited for a few minutes, seeing if Lance would come back to the surface, but the water remained undisturbed.  So he set the vial Pidge had given him in the sand, and then turned and walked back into the woods.  

 

Pidge, Hunk, and Shiro were all talking quietly when Keith got back to the clearing, where they had set up camp, but none of them seemed to be surprised when Lance wasn’t with him.  Hunk said that he’d be back before morning, and that he would have needed to swim eventually anyway, so he shouldn’t worry.  Keith still felt like he messed something up though.  

 

And yet, when he told the others what Lance had told him, Hunk’s face was...off.  As good a friend as Hunk was, he didn’t seem to be that great a liar, and he made it seem like there was still more to the story.  Keith didn’t know what more there could possibly be.  

Even if he still slept, he knew he wouldn’t be able to that night, the only thing in his mind was Lance’s face, angry and betrayed.  Keith knew he should have told the others sooner but he had no idea any of them would react like that.  Well, actually, that's what he was afraid of, but he was afraid of  _ Pidge _ reacting like that.  At the time, he hadn’t cared at all how Lance felt.  In fact, he felt that Lance hating him would be better because he would leave Keith alone.  Why did Keith care now?

 

It was times like this that Keith wished he could still sleep.  If he was asleep, he wouldn’t be thinking about this for hours, and Keith just wanted to forget about it.  He didn’t want to think about the look on Lance’s face, the way his explanation of turned Mer got colder as he got angrier, or the way his crystal blue eyes wouldn’t leave Keith’s head.  But as it was, Keith had these thoughts tumbling inside his brain until the sun started to poke through the leaves.  Today, Pidge was the first up, which surprised Keith, but they seemed to have a mission.  They pulled a small pot out of their bag and restarted the fire, mumbling a good morning to Keith as they did so.  Setting the pot on the fire, they set to work taking vials out of the bag, rubbing their face tiredly.  Keith went over to them.  

 

“Need any help?”  He asked, and they sighed.  

 

“Fuck, yeah, thanks Keith.  I’ve been working on an idea for a potion for a while but after the incident yesterday I just need to get it done.”

 

They led Keith through some steps, adding drops of some red liquid, then a lot of an iridescent blue sludge, then some sprigs of a wildflower, basically Keith had no clue what he was doing. But Pidge understood it, and nothing blew up, so he felt it was going pretty well. 

 

“So….what is this supposed to be?” Keith asked after a while of stirring. Pidge made a face. 

 

“Gonna be honest here, I don't know if I should tell you? Considering the current….situation? I will tell you that it's for Lance though.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Keith was about to ask them about Lance and if there was another reason he hated Keith, but they spoke first. 

 

“I know it seems like he really hates you right now, and sure. Maybe right now he does. But he gets like this sometimes, he can be pretty temperamental, and it normally blows over pretty fast.”

 

Keith was silent. It really didn't seem like it would blow over. Pidge talked about Lance like his anger was a storm, which he supposed was fitting. Like it was something powerful, and fierce, but it always ended and revealed the sunny sky beneath. Only this didn't feel like a storm to Keith. The way Lance’s glowing blue eyes watched him warily, Keith didn't know how he could make that go away.

He just kept helping Pidge, eventually pouring the now silver concoction into a spare vial they had brought.  Once Hunk woke up, Keith wanted to start moving, to get on with the journey, but Lance still hadn’t returned. In fact, he didn’t get back until the sun was high in the sky, and Keith was sitting with Shiro under a tree.  He heard Lance coming, his footsteps sounding the same as they did the previous day, and sure enough Lance soon broke through the treeline into the clearing.  He was dripping wet, his hair pushed behind his ears this time, revealing that he still had small blue fins on the tips of his ears.  Suddenly Keith wanted to hit himself.  They weren’t ear cuffs.  He had the biggest clue in front of him the entire goddamn time!

 

As Lance walked into the clearing, Hunk stood up and crushed him in a hug, before breaking apart and frowning.  

 

“I forgot you were wet…” Hunk complained, shaking water off his arms and looking regretfully at the patches of his shirt that were soaked through.  Lance laughed lightly, seeming a lot happier than he had before.  

 

“Sorry buddy.”  He smiled.  Hunk led him over to the fire, where Lance sat down and started to try and dry himself off.  As he held his arm a ways over the fire, Pidge reached over and passed him the silver vial they had just filled.

 

“Hey Lance, can you test this out for me?” They said.  Keith expected some sort of protest, or at least Lance to ask what it was supposed to do, but he barely turned his head before taking the vial and downing it in one go.  Nothing happened for a few moments, and Keith watched from his spot under a tree, wanting to ask Pidge again what this was supposed to do.  But Lance either hadn’t noticed him yet, or he was pointedly avoiding him.  Either way, he didn’t know if speaking up would be a good idea.  

 

Soon, Lance’s face changed to one of confusion and hope.  He reached up and touched his ears, and sure enough the fins there were longer.  His cheeks seemed...bluer, and Keith looked a little closer to see a much smaller patch of scales under his eyes.  His pupils were a little more slitted than normal.  He looked much like he did when he had turned to a full Mer hours ago, only he was still on two legs.  

 

“Pidge!” He exclaimed brightly.  “Is this…”

 

“That updated potion I promised you, yes.”  Pidge finished.  “I figured now that you didn’t need to look human anymore it would be a good time to finish it.  I’m not sure exactly what Mer stuff it lets you keep, though, so that’s up to you to find out.”

 

Lance grinned, showing off teeth too sharp to be human.  That had to be another effect of the potion.  He let out a noise, one that Keith didn’t think he’s heard anything make, not even an animal.  It was...some sort of trill?  Whatever it was, it was ear-piercing, obviously a happy noise, and fucking  _ loud _ .  Although that could have just been Keith’s ears.  Lance looked surprised too, before breaking out into another grin and hugging Pidge tight.  He was really happy, and Keith found himself smiling too.  

 

Then Shiro stood up from next to Keith.  

“It’s already past midday,” He said, “If we want to make some headway, I think we should leave now.” 

 

Pidge nodded and agreed, starting to pack up their things and putting out the fire.  Hunk went around recollecting his crystals, and Lance helped Pidge carefully wrap vials in cloth.  He hadn’t reacted when Shiro spoke, positively or negatively, but merely started picking things up.  However, he hadn’t looked at Keith at all.  Keith frowned.  Yeah, Lance was still mad.  

 

Once the campsite was cleaned up, they set out.  They didn’t know how much time they’d have today, since it was already the afternoon, but they kept walking as the sun started to set.  The mood was sober, since usually they had Lance joking around with everyone, but today he seemed preoccupied.  He didn’t look angry, or upset, or even annoyed, but just...thinking.  

 

They entered through a ring of bushes into a part of the forest that was much darker.  Shiro stopped.  

 

“I remember this…” He said.  “We’re close to our campsite.”

 

Pidge started to practically vibrate, almost pulling Shiro further into the woods.  Shiro sighed, but laughed lightly and pushed them back behind him.  These woods were a  _ lot _ darker than the rest of the forest, and the trees were different.  The branches seemed to weave together above them, creating a thick canopy with no sunlight or really any glimpses of the sky.  It was nice to not have to worry about being in the sun, but it put Keith on edge.  He just didn’t know why.  

 

Shiro changed directions a lot, memories returning slowly as he led the way through the woods.  Then he pushed aside a branch and gasped lightly.  

 

“This is it.” He said.  Pidge ran around him, stopping in their tracks as soon as they passed the trees.  Keith soon saw why.  

 

There was a lone tent in the middle of a very small clearing, with a ring of rocks for a fire in front of it and a large backpack propped against a tree.  A smaller backpack was poking out of the flap of the tent.  A small pile of sticks was by the firepit.  It almost looked like Matt and Shiro had never left it.  

 

Except for the fact that all of it was destroyed.  The tent was ripped and slashed, portions were gone and others were falling inward.  The rock ring was broken, scattered, sticks strewn across the ground.  The backpacks were the least touched, but still slashed.  Grass and plants had overgrown most of the campsite, retaking the clearing and reclaiming the broken and tattered land.  

 

“Oh…” Hunk said, entering the clearing last and shattering the dour silence.  Keith looked over and noticed that Pidge’s eyes were watering.  He looked away.  Shiro sighed.  

 

“Well, at least we might be able to find some tracks?” He said optimistically.  Keith wasn’t so hopeful.  Whatever tracks were here had vanished long before now.  

 

“Maybe.” Pidge said, but Keith could hear the hollowness in their voice.  They weren’t sure either.  Keith stepped farther into the campsite, approaching the ruined tent and peeking inside.  Two destroyed sleeping bags lay side by side, their edges touching.  His fangs started to poke through as his anger raged.  The vampires responsible for this were  _ not _ going to like what Keith did to them.  

 

Suddenly a howl rang through the air, bouncing off the trees and echoing through the clearing.  All five of them stiffened.  The howl came again.  Then a shape, large and dark and imposing, burst through the treeline and rammed directly into Keith, sending him flying.  He hit a tree and felt a rib snap.   _ That  _ was gonna hurt like hell while it healed.  The creature stood, panting, in the middle of the campsite.  A giant black wolf, much larger than should be natural, with eyes the color of burning coal and razor sharp teeth that dripped with drool.  It was snarling, facing the group with it’s head low down, ready to pounce.  Keith got up from the ground, and bared his fangs at the wolf, snarling right back.  

 

“Go on my signal.” Lance whispered, his eyes flashing as the newly extended fins on his ears fluttered.  Then he opened his mouth and let out the loudest shriek Keith had ever heard.  It was one, high, sustained note, and one that sent the wolf reeling, shaking it’s head to get the sound out.  Keith rushed forward, pulling out his knife and jumping onto the back of the disoriented wolf.  He noticed the others attacking too, but he just focused on ramming his knife into the fur around the beast’s neck.  That noise from Lance had done a number on Keith’s hearing as well, which meant he couldn’t really hear what everyone else was shouting, but they could do whatever they thought was best.  Keith would do the same.  

 

He stayed on the wolf’s back until it bucked, once again sending him flying off and towards the trees.  From there, he saw that the fight wasn’t going as well as it had seemed to be.  Pidge had a slash down their arm, and was rolling under the beast to try and slice it’s underbelly.  Hunk had taken out his staff, but wasn’t attacked, just chanting something under his breath as the stone on the top of his staff glowed lightly.  Lance was slashing at the legs of the wolf with his fingertips, which Keith assumed had lengthened into claws much like his own, and he was doing the most damage next to Shiro.  Shiro’s arm had reverted back to the glowing purple that it was as it was bonding to him, and wherever it touched the wolf it seemed to burn it, making it yelp and howl.  Yet, as much damage as they were doing, the wolf wouldn’t fall.  It was wounded, bleeding, and had multiple stab wounds on it’s neck, but it stayed on it’s feet.  Keith ran forward right as the beast caught Lance’s arm in it’s mouth and threw him to the side.  He got up, clutching his bleeding arm to his chest, and screeched again, louder this time.  Keith noticed the scales on his face were glowing too, as his ears throbbed in pain and he flinched heavily.  He knew it was necessary, since it seemed to be the only thing that distracted the wolf enough to get a good hit in, but  _ damn _ that hurt.  

 

He heard Shiro shout for them all to focus attack on it’s neck, when all of a sudden a bright pink glow blinded him.  When it faded, a woman was there, rushing towards the beast with a bright white staff.  She slammed the tip of it into the wolf’s side, and the wolf went flying to the side, turning around and snarling at the woman before darting back into the trees, it’s footsteps thundering away.  The woman stopped, stood up straight, and….began to shrink?  It was then that Keith noticed she had been a good seven feet tall.  She shrunk until she was a little less than six feet, and about the same height as her staff.  Long white hair streamed behind her, and small pink triangles rested on her cheeks, underneath bright blue eyes.  A man seemed to follow her out of the woods, with orange hair and visibly pointed ears.  A glance back at the girl confirmed the pointed ears, and he noticed a crown around her head.  Silence rang through the clearing, and the girl turned to look at all of them.  Shiro stepped forward, diplomatic as always.  

 

“Thank you for saving us.” He said.  “Who are you?”

 

Keith moved closer as the girl turned to Shiro.  The long skirt of her blue dress swished around her feet.  

 

“My name is Princess Allura, of the lost forest of Altea.  I am in need of your assistance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't know how my schedule is gonna be, the Family stuff is still going on and its...not that great, so the next chapter might be a while. I'm gonna try and get it out as soon as possible though, all you guys reading this mean so much to me!
> 
> Also i realized i never actually said this: This fic, and basically all my fics, are beta'd by the great and wonderful Quillstar! They're on tumblr as @galexyvalkyrie and their writing blog is @quillstar too. They are great and have Saved My Life by giving me feedback on these chapters before i send them off to you guys. We've written a few fics together too if you wanna check them out!

**Author's Note:**

> I dont really know when the next chapter is gonna be up? High schools a bitch so i dont have too much time to write, so there isnt really a schedule, sorry about that! I'll try to get it done as quickly as I can!


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